Med students start donation drive for workers fighting COVID-19

Poster about donation drive for medical supplies needed to protect health workers while attending to COVID-19 patient has been going rounds on FaceBook. Contributed

CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines — This may be the worst of times, but the COVID-19 pandemic also has brought out the best of some people.

A group of medical students has initiated a donation drive to protect the health care workers who are be taking care of patients afflicted by the virus.

The collected face masks, N95 masks, alcohol, gloves and raincoats would be distributed to hospitals where persons under investigation (PUI) are referred to in Cebu, said John Caro Ybañez, third year medical student at the Cebu Institute of Medicine (CIM), where he is also the student council president.

These PUI hubs are Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City, Eversley Hospital in Mandaue City, and Talisay District Hospital in Talisay City.

A day after the donation drive started, four boxes of face masks, six boxes of gloves, a few N95masks, 2 gallons of alcohol, and 2 bottles of alcohol had been collected as of the afternoon of March 16.

“Times like this you can see the power that the community holds and we still urge those who have more than enough and has some equipment to spare to please help our frontliners by donating these resources,” said Ybañez.

The donation drive was both a preemptive response to a looming health crisis as well as the scarcity of medical supplies which was caused by panic buying and hoarding in the wake of the COVID-19 scare.

“Our frontline doctors and nurses can use all the help they can get right now with the increased workload, while at the same time preparing for the fact that the number of PUIs can easily increase soon,” said Ybañez.

Since hospitals could not just replenish supplies in a snap, he added, they decided that a donation campaign would be a quick way to gather the needed these needed items.

“It is a way for the community to help our healthcare frontliners,” said Ybañez, while emphasizing that the best way to help right now was to prevent spreading the virus by staying at home.

While nurses, physicians, medical technicians, and other medical professionals were committed to serve despite the strenuous demand, one way to ease their burden was to donate these medical supplies.

Ybañez urged those who had hoarded these medical supplies to donate these to the frontliners who needed these more.

Another way of helping is to follow medical advice to stay at home, wash your hands, keep your hands away from your face and practice social distancing.

“That would be one charitable way of helping the frontliners from getting swamped with cases until everything is gone. This is a battle we cannot win alone. If we help each other and fight this pandemic as a community, we can win together as one.”

Some private companies are also showing support for medical professionals in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.

On Sunday, boxes of pizza were delivered by Landers Superstore for the medical staff of the University of Cebu Medical Center and Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu.

In a statement, Francis Reyes, Landers chief finance officer, said Landers, together with 8990 Holdings, Kuya J, Popeyes, Grand Convention Center and SeventySeven Living Spaces Inc. would continue to distribute more meals and support for our healthcare workers in hospitals.

“In the coming days, Landers will also discount the majority of our products so as to lessen the financial impact on our families. Rest assured that we are always here to help not just our members but everyone in our communities. Together, we can overcome,” he added.

/atm